


finders keepers

by newheros



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Bad Matchmaking, Crush at First Sight, Falling In Love, Fluff, M/M, Matchmaking, Misunderstandings, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, unhealthy knowledge of quidditch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-03 22:05:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17292278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newheros/pseuds/newheros
Summary: "i assure you, jeno is perfect for you. he's quiet, kinda dorky but very dreamy, he's smart, and I'm telling you, little huang, there's this thing that he scrunches his nose and it's the cutest thing I-- you'll see in your life!"renjun snorts over his butterbeer. "i see you like him already, don't you, xuxi?"or, the one in which yukhei tries to play matchmaker between his best friend and gryffindor's golden boy. keyword: tries.





	1. chapter i

**Author's Note:**

  * For [threevisions](https://archiveofourown.org/users/threevisions/gifts).



> this one is for the 5 people in this fandom who ship nohei. HELLO.
> 
> okay, so, i had this thing going around for a while and thought that maybe it deserved to be my first fic of 2019. buckle up for the ride because it's full of feelings and pretty much very gay. i plan on giving xuxi all the boyfriends he deserve this year.
> 
> BEL, i love you and hope you like this. also shoutout to tessie for obvious reasons. i love you both!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI. i'm nervous. aaahhhhh
> 
> here comes the first part of wong yukhei's matchmaking adventures, enjoy!

"I'm sorry, you want me to _what_ now?"

Yukhei lowers his bagel – salmon, cream cheese, tomato, fresh mint! – and sighs theatrically. It earns him ugly looks from the other Slytherins at the table, but _that_ gets Renjun staring at them, and then they're left alone once again.

"As I said," Yukhei continues, with a smile from one ear to the other. "I found the perfect boyfriend for you. All you need to do is let me play matchmaker!"

"First of all," Renjun holds up one finger. He's grown used to Yukhei's antics by now, but the tired look on his face and the crooked green tie around his neck tells that he's spent the night writing an essay and would pretty much prefer to be asleep now, not dealing with Yukhei this early in the morning. "I don't need a boyfriend. Second of all," he lowers the hand and props his elbow on the table, then rests his chin on the hand. "Didn't it go terribly when you played matchmaker for Jaemin that one time?"

"It's not my fault that I didn't know that Mark and Minhyung were the same person! When Jaemin said _wow my ex-boyfriend Minhyung is such a pain sometimes_ , I couldn't ever link that to Mark. Mark is the coolest boy in the world! He's my best buddy! Besides you, of course."

Renjun sighs. "How could you possibly not know that? I still can't believe you made them meet at Madam Puddifoot's without knowing. They nearly destroyed the place, Mark ended up in the hospital wing with front teeth so big it went past his chin. And Jaemin had that horrible rash for weeks."

"Then again, it's not my fault that they're borderline homicidal because they hate each other's guts. Also, don't you think--" he leans over the table, careful for the other Slytherins not to hear, but doesn't even lower his voice: "That they totally hate make out? I can see that happen. Not that, like, I think about it. I just imagine, well, not _imagine_ imagine, but--"

"Alright," by his side, Doyoung throws his newspaper on the table. It's just an act, because he starts to fold it neatly in a second. "This is too much for me. Why don't you go back to your table, Hufflepuff?"

"This is classism, or should I say--" Yukhei announces, mouthful of bagel just to annoy him. " _Housesism_. Don't act like you don't love my company, Dodo. I surely love yours."

"Sometimes, I do, but definitely not this early in the morning. Renjun, any help here?"

The other boy shrugs, searching for a fruit he likes on the table. When he settles for an orange – and Yukhei is looking at him with raised eyebrows, waiting –, Renjun says, in a bored voice: "It's not like I can make him go away, deal with it."

They resume their talk after Doyoung promptly leaves, and when Yukhei tries to compel Yuta into the conversation too – he'd been napping during breakfast, said Quidditch practice killed him the day before but Yukhei knows for a fact that he'd just been snogging Jaehyun Jung, Ravenclaw's Head Boy, in the Astronomy tower until ungodly hours, and Yukhei knows that because he had detention and was cleaning the telescopes –, he leaves as well. Then, it's just Yukhei, his third bagel of the day, Renjun and his orange, and the three other Slytherins at their side of the table that keep a safe distance between them and Renjun. Certified hexer and all of that stuff.

"So, about the boy, your boy," Yukhei continues, and the other sighs. "His name is Jeno and he's Gryffindor's--"

"Chaser, I know,"

"Oh! You knooooooow?"

Renjun rolls his eyes. "Of course I know Jeno, we've been studying together since we were eleven, and... Anyway," then, he leans over the table. Yukhei does, too, but ends up knocking his forehead against Renjun's because apparently, he's so big. "Fucking Hell-- listen, I don't do Gryffindors."

"You guys have to stop with this hating-other-houses-thing…"

"It's not because of that!" Renjun leans back, arms crossed. "I just think they're the worst. I can't go five minutes next to Mark Lee without wanting to strangle him."

"That's Jaemin's influence, because Mark is the greatest person on Earth!"

He sighs. "Of course you think that, Xuxi."

"But I'm telling you!" Yukhei insists, licking the remainings of cream cheese off his fingers. It makes Renjun look at him in disgust, but that's not news. "Jeno is totally your type. Yesterday, we had a friendly match with Gryffindor – don't give me that look, we'd have friendly matches with you guys too if Jungwoo didn't _hex_ _me_ that one time just because I said his butt looked cute –, and Jeno was there and, wooooosh, I literally fell from my broom! He's just very dreamy,"

"Sounds like your type."

Yukhei waves it off. "I like older men. Like Doyoung."

"Xuxi, move on," Renjun reasons. "How many times does he have to reject you for you to realize he's out of your league?"

"Don't give up on your dreams! And don't give up on Lee Jeno, as I said, he's dreamy! His eyes sparkle! He's Huang Renjun's perfect boy!"

Renjun sighs again – he's been doing that a lot, Yukhei wonders if he's getting sick or just really tired –, and takes a look on his wristwatch. It was his grandfather's, and while Donghyuck likes to say he looks like a loser wearing it, Yukhei likes it a lot. Renjun looks up at him and says: "I have Potions now. Walk me there so you can tell me about Lee Jeno?"

Yukhei smiles brightly:

"Of course!"

.

Yukhei has lost count of how many times he's been at the hospital wing, so he's not surprised when he opens his eyes and finds himself here.

Not that he's a total buffoon, who gets hurt by accident all the time – pretty much like Johnny, one of his favorite people in the entire world, who doesn't seem to get he's 6ft tall and just keeps running into things, the poor soul –, but because Yukhei is somewhat of a… Reckless boy.

When his mothers taught him how to fly, all those years before, even before he learned how to walk, they'd pat his head and say he was born for it – and he might have been, because both of his mothers were professional Quidditch players and it'd be just a little sad if he wasn't good at it.

Half of the year, he'd fly around in their garden and try to compel one of them to play with him, but mostly, he was used to fly alone. The grass was fluffy and there were incantations around the perimeter of their house so that he wouldn't fly past the tall trees surrounding the property – they lived in the countryside, next to a muggle town and close enough to the magical veterinary clinic one of his moms used to work at before she went back to playing Quidditch –, so there wasn't much room for him to get hurt.

The other half of the year, when it was too cold to be outside, he'd fly inside the house and knock absolutely everything to the floor on accident. That's how he ended up with stitches on his chin at the ripe age of five, or how he broke a leg trying to teach their dog how to fly.

Damn, Yukhei missed his childhood. Anyway! It's not that he's a total buffoon, it's just that Yukhei has a knack for getting himself in trouble. A talent, you might say.

"I'm deeply sorry about this," said Lee Jeno, towering over from where he's standing next to Yukhei's bed. "Please, tell me how I can make it up for you,"

Yukhei gives him a smile that must've looked really weird, because Jeno's face is as pale as the flowers he holds in his hands. "Duuuuude, it's totally fine! Is that for me?"

Jeno looks down at the flowers like he's seeing them for the first time in his life (cute), and then clears his throat. "Yes!" he replies. "I'm sorry I made you fall from your broom. It wasn't on purpose."

Yukhei motions for the flowers, but his arm hurts like a motherfucker – he must've fallen on it after getting hit by the bludger –, and it shows because Jeno just gently puts them on his bedside table, next to all of the terrible-tasting medicine Madam Pomfrey is making him take since he woke up two days before. Damn, Yukhei's not used to being knocked out by bludgers, but if it means Lee Jeno is going to bring him flowers for it, then so be it.

"It's fine," he repeats. "It's not your fault. I was distracted. I think, 'cause I can't remember."

As color returns to Jeno's cheeks, he nods. "Again, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be speaking to you, then maybe you wouldn't be hit by the bludger."

Yukhei raises an eyebrow. Or he thinks he does, can't exactly feel his face. "Maybe?"

"Surely," Jeno replies. He smiles. "You're a really good Beater. You'd catch it for sure."

Surely. That word alone – and the flowers – is better for his ego than anything else, so he smiles happily again. Before either of them can say something, Madam Pomfrey is out of the Nurse Office and sending Jeno back to his daily class activities with a wave of her hands. She also puts Yukhei's flowers – daisies, he's noticed – on a vase. He waves to Jeno with his healthy arm as he goes.

"Aw, man," he comments, and Madam Pomfrey nods as she checks on his head bandage. Apparently, he's supposed to talk so that she knows he's not off in the head after having his skull cracked.  "That Jeno dude is really nice, isn't he?"

"He's a sweetheart," she agrees. "He sometimes helps me out here at the hospital wing,"

Yukhei nods, but it hurts when he does so he just stays put. "Cool. Hey, for how long was I knocked out?"

"Four days. He came here every single day, along with your friends. But they were all too loud, those friends of yours. I only let Huang in."

"Shit," Yukhei wonders how many important classes he's lost. He skips class all the time but he has some sense, at last, he'll have to find some classmate to help him out. "Renjun must be so mad at me. He always says, _don't die playing Quidditch or I'll kill you, Xuxi!_ And here am I. Is he mad?"

Madam Pomfrey chuckles, and he feels something icy and sticky on the back of his head. Must be an unguent – from what he's heard, well, from what Madam Pomfrey told him, the bludger made a mess out of his head –, so he decides to stay chillax.

"Not at all," she replies, finally. "Talked a lot with Jeno in the meantime, although he promised to curse you four or five times, I wouldn't know. The hospital wing was a lot busy these days,"

Yukhei takes a look around to the other occupied beds. The second years are pulling pranks again and forcing each other to eat Nosebleed Nougats and Puking Pastilles like crazy. Ah! Good times. Yukhei used so many Fainting Fancies to get out of classes he thought were boring. And then Taeyong found out that he wasn't deathly ill and took it all from him. And prohibited him from buying them again – said he'd make sure Yukhei would never play Quidditch again, and Yukhei realized he could get through Arithmancy if it meant he could still play.

Aside from the second years, he waves to Kun Qian from across the room, but he doesn't seem to acknowledge Yukhei's existence. He's heard that Kun got caught with illicit substances and had a bad trip. Poor guy. Yukhei has to ask him about it later.

"Oh!" he exclaims, looking up to Madam Pomfrey. "Little Huang talked to Jeno, you say?"

She nods, checking on the bandages on his arm now. She makes an ugly face and then forces a disgusting potion down his throat right after. When Yukhei asks for a mint drop after it, she refuses.

"I just had an epipen," he announces. "Do you wanna hear about it, Madam Pomfrey?"

"Epiphany, dear,"

"Bless you. So, how about I get Renjun to date Jeno? They'd be perfect for each other!"

Madam Pomfrey just nods at it, because it's not like she knows much about any of them, but by the time Yukhei finishes ranting about the qualities of his best friend, she agrees with him. She, then, promises to let him out of the hospital wings on the following afternoon, and is off to treat Kun, and Yukhei is proud of himself.

He _will_ get Renjun a boyfriend, even if that's the last thing he does.

.

The next time Yukhei thinks about Jeno, he's a man on a mission.

See, he didn't quite expect Renjun to say yes, but he's a Hufflepuff. He's loyal to his promises, and he sure as hell won't let this opportunity pass. It's not always that Renjun agrees to his plans, he's learned not to do that when he just arrived Hogwarts and Yukhei failed to warn him about the Giant Squid in the lake – "How can you forget about something so big? I nearly died trying to get my sketchbook back!" –, and then never trusted him again.

Alright, point is: man on a mission. He's a man on a mission! He's casually chatting to Mark during their shared History of Magic class – Mark's terrible at it, and Yukhei is mildly good so he tries to help – when he remembers that Mark is, pretty much, in the same house as Jeno. Bingo!

"So!" he leans to the side, to whisper in Mark's ear because Professor Binns, besides being a ghost and not paying much attention to his surroundings – he did forget he died and continued teaching, didn't he? –, has an admirable sense of hearing. "You know Lee Jeno?"

To which Mark shrugs, "Of course I do, he's my best friend,"

Yukhei leans back, chin dropped, "He's _your_ best friend? The one you refused to introduce me all these years?"

"Yes, because you'd just scare him off," Mark whispers, after checking if Professor Binns isn't paying attention to them. "You'd say something like _I'd suck Merlin's dick if I had the chance!_ And then he'd just run away because he's already traumatized by my own dick jokes,"

"It's not my fault your dick jokes are terrible. And I _would_ suck Merlin's dick if I had the cha--"

"Mr. Wong!"

Professor Binns materializes on their table, quite literally, because his head just gets through Yukhei's notebook. He screeches, then Mark is sent to sit by the other side of the classroom for interrupting the lecture and he's left alone.

Too much for Merlin's dick. Yukhei spends the rest of the class scraping dicks on the wooden table to piss Binns off and wondering where he can find Jeno next.

.

He doesn't have to wait long. When Madam Pomfrey announces that he can go back to Quidditch – after making sure that there isn't a single crack on Yukhei's head anymore, and that he'll at least pay more attention to his surroundings while playing –, Yukhei is back on his broom before Jinsoul can say "Quidditch!". He's walking to the field to practice when he meets Jeno on the way.

"Hello!" Yukhei says, adjusting the broom on his shoulder. He smiles. "Nice to see you here, Lee Jeno,"

Jeno nods. "I could say the same," he replies. "Are you feeling better?"

"Better than ever! You guys practicing today?"

"Ah, no. I came to watch because Eric swears he and Yerim can do a perfect Porskoff Ploy, and I had to check. Is it true?"

Yukhei is not a Chaser, but he knows how to do a Porkskoff Ploy with his eyes closed if he has the right partner – he's seen his mother do it a billion times before in her games –, but he doubts Eric's affirmation judging by how many times he and Yerim argue over Chaser tactics. "I guess--" he replies. "--You'll have to see for yourself. Let's go!"

On their tiny trip to the Quidditch field, Yukhei manages to absorb all kinds of Jeno-related information like a sponge, but there isn't much to talk about. He lets the younger boy take a look at his broom – it's a Yajirushi, he got it on his fourteenth birthday after being admitted to Hufflepuff's team, it's his _baby_ –, they talk a little about Quidditch and broomstick models and that's it. Yukhei, although, is still satisfied. As competitive as Renjun can get, he's not sure if he's going to like having Jeno, Gryffindor's golden chaser, as a boyfriend, but they can work it.

"I have a Comet 400," Jeno comments, hands on the pockets of his coat. "Of course, it's not as fast as a Firebolt Supreme, but I like her. I didn't know they sell Yajirushis to the average public, though?"

Yukhei shrugs. "My mom got it for me when they released it. She has friends in the Japanese National Team."

Jeno's chin drops. "Wait, so you're the son of Liz Wong? As in, _the_ Liz Wong? Wong's Dive and all?"

"Yup," Yukhei nods contently. He never learned how to do his mother's trick because the last time he tried, he nearly cracked his skull on their house's floor. Besides, he's a Beater, he doesn't need to. "You know how to do that?"

Jeno smiles. "I do! I nearly died twice but now I do."

"Sweet, show me some other time!"

When they reach the field, Yukhei is more than happy to hear Jinsoul's scold – "Pay more attention, Xuxi, you could've died!" –, and he does the daily drills with a smile on his face. He forgets all about Jeno because he's too focused on keeping the bludgers away from his teammates along with Jinsoul, but there's this moment in which Mingyu tells him to stay put for a while because apparently, his face was pale enough for the Keeper to notice, so he goes sit with Jeno and some other students by the bleachers.

"I hope you won't rat out our tactics to your team," is the first thing he says.

Jeno raises his hands. "Jinsoul and Jungeun have a truce. We have to beat Ravenclaw, right?"

Yukhei chuckles. "Dude, I know. Hey, are you a natural blonde?"

Jeno shakes his head negatively. Yukhei thinks that maybe Renjun prefers dark hair, judging by his past crushes. He wonders if Jeno likes Renjun's perfectly combed brown hair, and how he complained about his own mess of blonde hair until Yukhei dyed it black and had a haircut.

"And would you consider yourself a cat or a dog person?"

"Why are you asking that," Jeno laughs. "I love cats. I have three back home."

Yukhei nods. Renjun prefers dogs. As for he, in case your asking, Yukhei loves all animals. He wishes he could have a cat or some kind of magical pet, but his mother's labrador gets jealous even of the pet lizard he keeps as his familiar.

"I'm allergic, though," Jeno continues. He gets distracted a bit when a bludger comes so close to the bleachers that Jinsoul's hair slaps him on the cheek as she somersaults to catch it. She's back to the field in a second. "Wow, she's pretty good."

"I'm better," Yukhei points out.

"No, you're not," another Hufflepuff points out, sitting at few steps away from them.

"Shut up, Minhyuk," he turns to Jeno: "You're allergic to cats and you have three of them? Why don't you just put a spell on yourself to get rid of the allergy? Or in the cats, I don't know."

Jeno is silent for a moment, then says: "My parents don't like magic that much."

"Oh,"

Awkward. Yukhei can't even imagine a world without magic – one of his moms, Mai, she's a muggleborn, but stopped talking to his grandparents as soon as she was of legal age –, he's been surrounded by it since he was born. He loves magic. Truly adores it. He pictures Jeno going home to somewhere he can't be himself, and is struck by the urge to _protect_.

"I'm sorry about this," he says. "I didn't mean to pry."

Jeno shrugs. He has his eye smile on. "It's fine, I'm used to it. Do you have pets?"

"A dog. Her name is Aradia and she's as old as Professor Binns, but smells better,"

Bingo. Jeno laughs out loud and, boy, isn't his laugh so cute? Yukhei stores it in his mind to tell Renjun later.

.

Getting Renjun into Lee Jeno, in Yukhei's humble opinion, is as easy as falling asleep. Or cheating in a Divination test. Or flying. Flying! It's as easy as flying.

It might be because he's an amazing matchmaker – don't ask Jaemin's opinion on it, though –, but also because having a crush on Jeno is the easiest thing you could do. Yukhei's long discarded the theory that he bathes himself in Amortentia (that would be Ten, thank you very much), but after careful research, he just came to the conclusion that Jeno is just very likable.

"Alright, he's very cute," Renjun says, putting down their butterbeers. "And I guess I'd like to go out with him someday,"

"Very cute?" Yukhei shakes his head. "He's the cutest!"

Renjun nods, and Yukhei is _sure_ that the blush on his cheeks isn't because of the cold. But he's never seen Renjun blush, so he doesn't know.

To be really honest, he doesn't know what else to tell Renjun. It's not like he's talked to Jeno a lot - he haven't really seen him after the Quidditch practice, because Yukhei himself has been busy with homework and he wants to do well on his N.E.W.T's, you know? –, but he's asked Mark about him and gathered enough information for Renjun to let out a "Well, that's cute I guess," once in a while.

"I assure you, Jeno is perfect for you. He's quiet, kinda dorky but very dreamy, he's smart, and I'm telling you, Little Huang, there's this thing that he scrunches his nose and it's the cutest thing I-- you'll see in your life!"

Renjun snorts over his butterbeer. "I see you like him already, don't you, Xuxi?"

Yukhei tilts his head. "Of course I do. He's nice. Oh! And there's this thing that he keeps making fun of Mark, like, as he breathes and it's amazing...".

.

As for Jeno… It goes a little differently with him.

The guy is impossible to find most times. Mark's told him that Jeno keeps as many electives as he can so he can just gather credit and chill by the time he graduates – which is really smart, like, Smart with a capital S, Yukhei wishes he'd done that before getting to the seventh year and suffering at getting credits –, and that on top of it he's really invested in Quidditch and likes to help Professor Kim, Care of Magical Creatures, during his free time. Oh! And at the hospital wing as well, but Yukhei never sees him there when he drops by for routine checkups.

"You can always find him at daybreak," says Mark, as soon as they come back from Hogsmeade, in an ominous tone. When Yukhei frowns at him, he smiles sneakily. "Jeno likes jogging before the sun rises. He's a total freak, just like you."

In an act of courage, Yukhei holds Mark's chin in place and aims a loud, wet kiss on his cheek. He runs away before Mark can hex him.

On the following morning, when it's still dark and after Yukhei trips over at least four overworked Hufflepuffs who just slept on the floor of the Common Room, he finds Jeno stretching by the lake.

"Hi!" Yukhei manages to say, suppressing a yawn. "Morning jog?"

Jeno greets him with a nod, "It's good for the heart, don't you think?"

"Absolutely. Can I join you?"

"Dude, of course,"

And just like that, morning jog becomes the perfect opportunity for Yukhei's newest favorite activity (after Quidditch, of course, and maybe after Annoying Doyoung, but that's getting close), which is getting to know Jeno. They meet every day at dawn, have coffee together – waking up so early, Yukhei gets the fresh-iest cherry scones! –, and then jog through the school grounds either until their limbs are sore or they run out of things to talk about. The latter, though, becomes rarer and rarer, because Yukhei's taken pride in his ability to never shut up about anything, but also because he and Jeno always find something new to talk about.

Which is, taking a look at the greater picture, awesome. He reports to Renjun every day for weeks, and time has finally come to introduce Jeno to his little plan.

"So, you have any girlfriend?" he asks, one day, when it's warm enough to sit by the lake and watch the merfolk come talk to the Slytherins nearby. "Or boyfriend, or theyfriend?"

Jeno chuckles. "No, I don't. You?"

"My one true love is Quidditch," Yukhei replies, without blinking. He, then, conveniently waves at Renjun at the distance. He'd been chatting with his merfolk friends. "Don't you think Huang Renjun is such a cutie?"

Jeno follows his gaze. He frowns at first, but then turns to Yukhei and nods. "I guess? I don't know him that well. We have very few classes together and-- actually, I talked to him like, once, when you were knocked out. He was pretty angry at you."

"Ah, I know. He's always like that with me!" Yukhei smiles fondly, thinking of all the times Renjun has threatened to kill him in the past years. He loves his Little Huang. Then, Yukhei turns to Jeno and drops the bomb: "Renjun thinks you're cute,"

The tips of Jeno's ears flush red. He stares at the grass for a while then replies: "Are you for real?"

"Yes! He told me so. He's my best friend."

"Best friend?" Jeno's eyes widen. "Oh, so you're _for real_. Wow. That's… Nice."

Yukhei knows it's got him thinking. It's peak matchmaking culture. You tell the person: hey, my friend thinks you're cute! And even if they don't like that person at first, it gets them thinking. And once then think about it, boom, they feel the same eventually! Yukhei is so proud of himself when he takes a better look at Jeno's reddening cheeks and how he keeps playing with his fingers. He's totally thinking about it now.

He's honestly so cute. Renjun is going to love dating him.

.

"Jeno!" Yukhei shouts, waving with his hand so hard that he almost knocks down a Ravenclaw passing by. "Lee Jeno!"

The latter waves at him from the distance, trying to make his way past the students in line for the bleachers to get to Yukhei. When he does, Yukhei pulls him into a hug. He seems a little bewildered at first, but then reciprocates it. When he leans back, Yukhei smiles: "Good luck at the game today, lad!"

"Lad?" Jeno chuckles. "Thanks. I'll try to beat some Ravenclaw ass today."

"That's the spirit! Be careful with Jisung, though. He has a knack for knocking people out two minutes into the game."

Jeno nods. "I will, thanks for the heads up. See you at the bleachers?"

"You bet!"

Ditto. Two minutes into the game, Jisung manages to knock Eric off his broom – he lives, though, and is back at it before Jisung can even find another bludger to terrorize people with. Yukhei wonders what Ravenclaw has been feeding this boy because _he_ needs that stamina. He'll ask Jaehyun later, maybe bribe him with Yuta content or something.

"Look at your boy!" he shouts in Renjun's ear when Jeno scores for the second time.

Renjun's cheek turn red instantly. He stands out in the middle of the Hufflepuff bleacher like a sore thumb, with his big green scarf, but it's his blush that stands out the most.

By Morgana, Yukhei is doing a _great_ job being matchmaker. He takes Renjun's little hand in his and waves it high in the air, hoping that Jeno sees it.

.

"Yukhei, personal space much?"

"Oh, sorry," he leans back on his seat. Maybe it's too early in their friendship for him to try to cuddle Jeno at breakfast. "It's just that my eyesight is really shit and I can't read all the way from here. Is that a muggle newspaper?"

Jeno nods, and he pushes his glasses up on the long bridge of his nose. Yukhei has never seen him with glasses before, and he looks mad cute with them. He needs to tell Renjun later. Jeno opens the newspaper on the table so that Yukhei can read with him without any problem.

"I can show you a spell later," Jeno comments. When Yukhei frowns, he explains: "For your sight. I use it all the time before my games."

Yukhei smiles. "Sweet. Now, tell me, don't the people in the pictures get tired of standing there all day?"

Jeno looks down at the newspaper and laughs, nudging Yukhei on the ribs with his elbow. He points at one of the pictures and says: "This doesn't work like in our world. It's just ink on paper."

"Wow," Yukhei nods. "Muggles are so weird!"

They keep on reading, and Yukhei asks what he doesn't know and Jeno happily explains to him about this game called soccer. Yukhei thinks it's not nearly as cool as Quidditch, but Jeno seems enthusiastic about it so he lets him talk and talk until they find another thing to talk about. But when Jeno reaches politics, Yukhei rests a hand on his shoulder and tells him "Too much, lad."

Jeno shrugs. Yukhei feels the sudden urge to ruffle his hair – looks so fluffy today! – but he suppresses it, and focus on the remainings cherry scones at the table. It's not his first time sitting at the Gryffindor table, but he's never been here without Mark. He's not here, by the way, probably off to do Mark Lee Activities such as follow Ten around or write long, boring responses to the things he reads in his pretty much illegal revolutionary newspaper.

Yukhei turns around to see if Renjun has woken up already, and wonders if he'd like to join them, but the Slytherin table is free of his friends aside from Donghyuck, who looks like he's plotting something with Yeojin. When he looks up, Yukhei mouths "Renjun?" and Donghyuck only shrugs.

Yukhei turns to Jeno, "Talked to Renjun these days? After the game?"

Not looking up from the newspaper, Jeno shakes his head negatively. "Why didn't you tell me he's friends with Na Jaemin? He nearly bit my head off one of these days,"

"Who? Jaemin?" Yukhei slaps himself on the forehead, which startles Jeno but also makes him giggle a little. "Shit. Mark, right?"

Jeno nods. "Teen drama. He thinks I'm going to, uh, break your friend's heart or something like that."

Yukhei wonders if Jaemin thinks Mark's broke his heart, which is funny. He's pretty sure they broke each other's hearts at the same time. "Teen drama indeed," he replies. "Don't worry, though. Jaemin can get his way with anything but not with Renjun."

Jeno laughs, reaching out for some pumpkin juice:

"Why am I not relieved to hear this?"

Yukhei pats him on the back. "Trust me, Lee Jeno. I'm your guy."

.

Yukhei has been to the Slytherin Dungeon so many times already that the door lets him in without asking for the entry password – which is absurd, but Yukhei loves it –, so he makes his way inside without much ceremony.

"Nana," he starts, sitting down on the second chair by the gigantic window facing the inside of the lake. Jaemin likes to sit there like some villain from a novel because he's a dork, and also because he likes to chat with the merfolk. "Why did you scare Jeno off? Everything is going superb with Little Huang!"

Jaemin looks up from his book and smiles, all pearly white teeth. Yukhei retributes the smile, although he doesn't feel like smiling because he was going to go bad cop on him, but it's impossible not to smile back to Jaemin when he's like that. He, then, announces: "Not that this is news for anybody, but you have terrible taste in men."

Yukhei frowns. "What the fuck?"

Jaemin marks the page he's on, closes the book and puts it aside. He leans forward with his elbows on his knees. "Tell me, what did I tell you about Gryffindors all this time?"

"Nana, Jeno is not Mark. Just because you have beef with one Gryffindor doesn't mean all of them are bad! What did _I_ told you about house prejudice all this time?"

Jaemin leans back, arms crossed. His pink hair has faded and under the green lights of the Common Room, he looks blonde. It adds something to the villainous look he aims for, but Yukhei knows better. He's seen Jaemin help little kids despite their houses, take care of Donghyuck when he was homesick, hex racist assholes to the point they spent weeks at the hospital wing and, well, he's seen the way he was with Mark before it all. _Tender_. Jaemin is not as mean as he makes himself to be.

"Just because you think Jeno is a good bloke for Renjun to fall in love with doesn't mean he is one," Jaemin reasons. Theoretically speaking, he's right, but how can Jeno not be a good bloke for Renjun to fall in love with? Yukhei can't think of a single reason why. He's dreamy! Has such a beautiful smile! He wears prescription glasses! "And I didn't even say anything to him. It's not my fault he has horrible taste in friends."

From one of the velvet couches by the fireplace, Donghyuck's voice echoes: "Morgan be blessed, can you please stop pretending you hate Mark? This is soooo fifth year, get over yourself already,"

Jaemin's chin drops, and Yukhei nods. "What he just said, Nana."

"You are the worst!" Jaemin talks back, aiming his book at the couch. Donghyuck makes it disappear with a snap of his fingers, but Jaemin doesn't look that bothered. "That's from the library, asshole, good luck explaining yourself to Madam Pince!"

Before Donghyuck could say anything else, a curse maybe, Yukhei snaps his fingers. "Hey, let's get back to this."

Jaemin breathes in deeply. "Don't tell me what to do," he replies, ominously. Yukhei giggles. "Xuxi, you don't understand, and I don't expect you to understand--"

"Jeno is not Mark!" he repeats. "Jaemin, you don't own Renjun. Or anyone else. Maybe a house elf but--"

Outrageous, Jaemin crosses his arms again. "I do not own a house elf! What do you think I am, a barbarian? Only because I'm a Slytherin! I'll tell you, _that_ is house prejudice."

"--You don't get to decide people's lives for them!" and, wow, Yukhei is proud of himself for the way Jaemin promptly shuts up. He leans back on his seat and adds: "Nana, the world doesn't resolve around you and Mark."

"Revolve, the world doesn't revolve," Donghyuck props himself up on the couch, watching them. "I make Wong's words my words."

Jaemin's pout can be seen from space now. It makes Yukhei get up from his seat just to cup his face with both hands: "Take it easy on Jeno," he asks. "Like, tolerate him. You'd like him if you got to know him."

" _That_ ," Jaemin replies, face squished in between Yukhei's hands. It makes him look like a very handsome, kind of funny looking fish. "Is not happening. As for the tolerating part, I guess I can do that."

Yukhei smiles, "Sweet!" and lets go of his face. He turns to Donghyuck: "Wanna go eat something in the kitchen, Hyuck?"

Donghyuck nearly falls from the couch. When they're at the door, Yukhei looks back to Jaemin, who's still sitting by the window.

"You're the best of the worst, Wong Yukhei," he tells him.

He shrugs. "I know. See you, Nana!"

.

Watching as the Jeno-Renjun thing goes on, Yukhei thinks it's funny.

Not in an ironic, Ten's "This is so funny, haha, I'm laughing!" way, but truly funny. He loves engaging in Jeno-talks with Renjun, watch him gush a little as he talks about his little encounters with Jeno on the corridors – well, at least Yukhei thinks he's gushing. He's never seen Renjun gush about anything so this must be it. Still, Yukhei feels like there is still room for him to fall harder, and that's why he nudges Jeno on the ribs during one of their morning jogs and says: "Ask him out. Hogsmeade next Saturday, it's gonna be perfect!"

Jeno motions for him to hold on and catches his breath, hands on his knees. When he stands, Yukhei brushes the blonde fringe out of his eyes. Jeno's cheek blush _hard_ , but it's probably because of all their running.

"That's a... Good idea," he says. "I will-- I will ask him out."

Yukhei smiles. "Nice. Let's go for another one?"

Jeno gives him a thumbs up, and they resume running.

.

"Mark, shut up, they're gonna see us!"

Besides being so tiny, Mark pushes him so hard that Yukhei literally falls against a whole display case of candies. It makes the other people at Honeydukes look strangely at him, but luckily, Renjun and Jeno pay no attention to their fuss. " _You_ shut the fuck up," Mark hisses, anger totally not matching with the size of his pout. "I wanna leave, you promised to buy me Shepherd's Pie at Three Broomsticks! I'm starving, Cas!"

"No!" Yukhei whisper-shouts, hands flying to the front of Mark's coat so he can pull him closer, afraid that one of the two lovebirds is going to see his absolutely outrageous pink beanie. Yukhei's the only one who can call it outrageous because _he's_ the one who gave it to Mark, thank you very much. "I have to make sure they're having fun! Otherwise Little Huang is going to be mad at me, and Jeno is going to be upset! I don't want to die, or worse, to see Jeno upset!"

Mark looks at him like he's a madman, which isn't exactly new for the both of them. "Are you mental? Can't you just ask him later?"

"He is going to lie! Have you met Little Huang? He pretends things are fine even when they aren't! He likes to deal with things on his own!"

Mark nods. "Quite a Slytherin. Can I get a date with him after Jeno?"

"What?" Yukhei shakes his head. "No! Enough Gryffindors for him. They're gonna get _married_ , Mark, and I know you still like You-Know-Who. Forget about it."

"Married? They're sixteen! Also, You-Know-Who? Did I date Voldemort, how can you say those things?"

He stops, a hand to Yukhei's chest. "No, maybe I did--"

"You _have_ to leave," says a voice from behind them, and Yukhei has never been so relieved to see Jaemin in his entire life because there's only so much you can deny Mark Lee before his pout gets the best of you. "You're making a scene and Renjun is going to be utterly pissed off, Yukhei."

By his side, Mark tenses up horribly. When Yukhei takes a better look at Jaemin – he's forgotten to wear his contacts today, he has to squint –, he notices that his face is emotionless, looking every inch of the stone cold Slytherin he was born to be. "Minhyung," he says, low tone. "Fancy seeing you here. What an… Interesting beanie."

Mark's face is just as pink as his accessory, but Yukhei knows better. He's not embarrassed. He's _fuming_. "Jaemin. Buying treats?"

Yukhei feels like he's watching a Quidditch match. His eyes dart from Mark to Jaemin, then from Jaemin to Mark, and then--

"You could say that, yes," Jaemin reaches for something in his pocket and then throws it to Mark. He fails to catch it, obviously, and Yukhei sees the sparkle in Jaemin's eyes. It makes him jittery in his shoes. "This made me think of you,"

Yukhei expects it to be a Bombtastic Bomb that Donghyuck had once bought for him – and Jaemin thought it was really funny, he surely must have stored that somewhere in his mind –, but when Mark raises his hand, it's just a chocolate frog card. Boring.

"It's Morgan le Fay," Jaemin explains. "You needed her for your collection, didn't you?"

"Yes. Thank you, Jaemin." Mark replies, but he hands the card back. "That's very cool of you, but I got her last week."

Jaemin smiles, but his smile doesn't reach his eyes. "How unfortunate," he says, taking the card. He tucks it inside his pocket and turns to Yukhei. "Get the fuck out of here before Renjun sees you. And if he does, don't mention my name."

And, like that, Jaemin is gone.

Yukhei whistles. "Awkwaaaaaaard."

Pushing him to the side, Mark mutters "Tell me about it," and makes his way through the store.

.

As Mark furiously munches on his Shepherd's pie and complains about Jaemin in between bites, Yukhei tries his best to be subtle as he spies on Renjun and Jeno.

Lucky for him, the Three Broomsticks is as crowded as ever, so there's no way in hell they're going to be seen. For good measure, though, Mark took off his beanie and tucked it inside the inner pocket of his denim jacket – he swears it has nothing to do with Jaemin's comment, but Yukhei knows him. Anyways, the place is crowded, and the lovebirds are at least seven tables away.

As for Yukhei's bad sight, he remembered about the spell Jeno uses before every game – he's got quite the shit eyesight too, showed the spell to him one of these days – and used it on himself. He can see the cute mole on Jeno's cheekbone even from afar!

"You know, I've met some pricks in my life," Mark continues. He takes a sip of butterbeer and adds: "But I swear by Morgana that Jaemin is the whole fucking cactus,"

Yukhei laughs so hard he almost falls from his chair, and it's enough for Mark to smile momentaneously at his own joke. Then he's back to pouting:

"I was lying, by the way. I don't have Morgana yet."

Yukhei leans over the table, a teasing smile on his face. "Are you mental?" he mimics. "Why didn't you take it, Markie pie?"

"Because it's Jaemin! How could I-- Oh my, oh my Goodness--"

He slaps Yukhei so hard on the arm it _stings_ even through his wooden blouse. Yukhei stares at him in confusion until he notices Mark is trying to make him look at something, and when he turns around…

Yukhei's always thought that seeing people kiss is kind of funny. He thinks it's even a little gross depending on who it is, and he doesn't like to look, and he sure as hell doesn't mean to pry on Renjun's privacy, but there's something about the way he cups Jeno's face with his hands that is like a magnet, forcing Yukhei to look. It's more than that, actually, because maybe it is in the way Jeno grabs the front of his coat, his beautiful hands – that Yukhei only noticed now – holding Renjun in place like he's afraid he'll leave, like he doesn't want Renjun to leave.

And he surely doesn't, judging by how they seem to be enjoying it. When they break apart, Jeno's laughing so hard that his eyes are little crescent moons, and something weird and unfamiliar pools at Yukhei's stomach and he's sure it's not the fire whiskey he ordered just because. He turns around. “Let's get out of here, Markie pie.”

“What? I'm not done with my food yet! Haven't even touched the beer!”

But Yukhei is already on his feet, throwing a heavy coat over his shoulders. “I said, let's get out of here _now_. Our job is done."

"That's so ominous, what the fuck."

Either way, Mark follows him out of the pub. Yukhei stays silent all the way back to the castle, trying to pay attention to whatever the other is saying about Jaemin, but loses the most part of it because he's busy trying not to think of the two back at the pub.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't forget to leave kudos and let me know what you thought!!
> 
> chapter 2 is full of feelings & coming soon. thank u for being here.
> 
>  
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/morktwt)   
>  [ccat](https://curiouscat.me/nctqueer)


	2. chapter ii

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI! 
> 
> as promised, the final part of wong yukhei's matchmaking adventures. beware of feelings, word vomit, too much quidditch references, gay panic, and misunderstandings. enjoy! 
> 
> (also, tysm to the people who commented in the first chapter. you guys rock.)

The thing about Renjun, as stated before, is that he lies.

Not that he's a bad person because of it. Everybody lies. Some people lie because they want to be mean, some people lie because they want to be good, that's just the way things are. And then you have Renjun, who lies because nobody ever told him he doesn't have to hide things from his friends. It just comes naturally, and even though they've been trying to tear down that part of his personality… Old habits die hard.

"We didn't do much," he says, lying on his back on top of Yukhei's bed, a package of lemon drops on his belly. "We walked, I bought him ice cream despite the cold, he told me about his cats, I told him about the time I enchanted Donghyuck's voice away. But honestly, Xuxi, he seemed more interested in talking about you."

Yukhei shakes his head in disbelief. "Yeah, sure," he replies. "And did you smooooooch?"

Renjun stays silent for a while. He puts a lemon drop inside his mouth and says, "Yes, but it wasn't really that good. He's really fun to be around, though."

Yukhei sighs, because there's no way in Heaven or Hell that Lee Jeno's kisses aren't good. He wonders if Renjun needs a tiny drop of Veritaserum on his morning pumpkin juice.

.

With a hand on his shoulder, Mark announces: "Dude, you're acting so weird,"

"Lad."

"What?"

Yukhei taps his hand. "Everyone here says lad, not dude. Except for Kevin Moon, your fellow Canadian. What are you doing so far from home, anyway?"

Mark rolls his eyes so hard that Yukhei is afraid he'll get whiplash. When the Gryffindor retrieves his hand, giving up, Yukhei sighs.

"No, seriously," Mark continues, because he hasn't given up at all. "What's up? Are you upset because of the last match? Because Yuta's bludger was a low blown and everybody knows it, I honestly thought Eric's arm was past chance of repair, but Slytherin is out of the Quidditch Cup anyway! I mean, if they lose to Ravenclaw, they're out--"

Yukhei takes a look around, but there's no one at the Hufflepuff table in the afternoon. He turns back to Mark: "Renjun has been spending a lot of time with Jeno, hasn't he?"

He didn't really need to ask. He knows for a fact that wherever Renjun is, Jeno follows or vice-versa. And when anyone asks about it, Renjun shrugs and changes the subject like a pro.

With a funny look on his face, Mark scribbles something down on his parchment and says: "Ah, so that's what got you bummed! Well, I guess? Isn't this what _you_ wanted?"

"Of course it's what I wanted. I just thought that--" Yukhei shrugs. He should be doing homework himself, but there's something about his essay on the usage of Aconitum in modern medicine that kills Yukhei's vibe like nothing else. He doesn't even remember what Aconitum is, has been trying to bullshit his way through it for some time now. "Do you think they're _really_ dating?"

Mark shrugs. "How would I know?"

"Jeno is your best friend, duh."

"And Renjun is yours, isn't he?"

Bet. Yukhei steals another piece of parchment from Mark's stash and starts rewriting his essay.

.

"Do you like him?"

Yukhei doesn't know how he ended up hanging out with a fourteen-year-old, but he guesses that Jisung Park is much nicer when he's not trying to kill people during Quidditch matches. Besides, if he does try to pull one of these with Yukhei around, he's still bigger than the kid. Not for long, probably, but still. He's safe.

"Who, Jeno?" Yukhei snorts. "Of course I do! Who wouldn't like him? It's Jeno!"

This is the funniest thing Yukhei's heard all day. Imagine not liking Jeno! He's funny – only when he tries not to be, though –, he's got beautiful and soft hands – not that Yukhei knows, he just imagines that they must be very soft because the entirety of Lee Jeno is soft –, he likes morning jogs and working out at ungodly hours because it makes him feel invigorated, misses tteokbokki and has pictures of his cats glued to muggle notebook, has such a cute and neat handwriting, makes fun of Mark whenever Yukhei can't and whenever he (Jeno, not Mark) laughs, it's _always_ genuine.

Yukhei chuckles at the thought and Jisung shakes his head. "Unbelievable," he says. "This is worse than I imagine. I mean romantically, Wong!"

"What?" Yukhei frowns. "What do you know about liking people romantically? You're a--"

Jisung's face is like a stormy night. Nope, Yukhei's not going there.

"Teenager with total capacity to grasp concepts you might not be fully familiarized with, and that's why I'm asking you to elaborate… ?"

Rolling his eyes, Jisung continues brushing his broomstick, and Yukhei realizes he should do the same. As they resume the task, Jisung says: "You're all bummed because you liked Jeno first, but for some reason, you thought Renjun would like him better. And now that they're--" he shakes his head. "--Well, you're upset. Annoyingly upset. When Jaehyun told me to check up on you, I thought he was going nuts but now I understand."

"Jaehyun?" Yukhei groans. "What a nosy guy. I bet this is Yuta's fault!"

Jisung nods. "Gossip flies around this castle," he chuckles. "Anyway, are you… In love with that Jeno guy?"

"No," Yukhei replies, firmly. "Jisung, I can't be in love with him. He's, like, Renjun's boy, and I was the one to set them up! That's shitty!"

"You don't know if they're dating. Nobody does, actually."

He nods. "That's right I don't know that… But they hang out all the time?"

"They can be friends? You have friends, right? You know what that is?"

"Pipe down, gremlin. Listen, I tried to make them be BOY-friends--"

Yukhei is sure that there is some kind of a book somewhere, a book about best friends in which there is, clearly, a rule that says you shouldn't try to be in love with the person your best friend likes. And if Renjun likes Jeno, how can he possibly be in love with him? Yukhei is not that kind of guy! Of course, falling in love with Jeno is not difficult. Not when he's so nice and kind, with his terrible jokes and how he talks to Yukhei about all the muggle gadgets he sneaks into the castle or else he'd be doomed – like something called cellphone, with something called Netflix inside it –, and the fact that he likes to read muggle newspaper! With pictures that don't move. It's not difficult. Yukhei nods at himself and says: "I done fucked up, Park Jisung."

"You didn't, really," Jisung replies, softly. "I'm telling you that they're just really good friends. Trust me on this, Wong Yukhei."

.

As the days go by and Jisung's words stay buzzing inside his mind like a very annoying pixie, Yukhei thinks that he doesn't like blaming other people for the things happening to him, but he figures that there isn't anyone else to blame but Lee Jeno.

Thing is, Yukhei always takes his friend's words very seriously. In fact, he trusts them more than anything. But instead of talking to Renjun like he was supposed to do in the first place, he chickens out and goes after Jeno. That's why he's curled up on an armchair in the Gryffindor Common Room, listening as he reads out an essay.

“Is this good? I feel like Professor Bae might actually send me to the dungeons for it.”

“You're fine,” Yukhei replies, but it's a lie. He's not really paying attention, he's busier watching as Jeno scrunches his nose every five seconds (cute) because he's forgotten to take his antihistamine and is, overall, feeling a little sick. He resumes reading, and Yukhei resumes his task of figuring out whether he's in love with Jeno Lee or just heavily influenced by Jisung's words.

They were supposed to meet for a morning jog. Yukhei sent him an owl about it, and when Jeno replied – in a piece of ruled paper which Yukhei thought was so weird but then he thought that maybe it's much better to write on it than on parchment – that he’s fallen ill and wasn't supposed to leave the Gryffindor Tower, he just went there. And since none of his friends are around, no one can point out his intense ogling. Simple. Bold. Mental pat on the back.

"So," Yukhei stretches his arms and legs, almost hitting Jeno from where he's sitting in the old, red and gold rug on the floor. "What have you been up to lately?"

Jeno turns his head slightly to look at him. He scrunches his nose and replies: "Not much. Studying. Trying to keep up with the qualifying matches for the Quidditch World cup. And you?"

"Same here," he replies, but it's not exactly true. Yukhei hasn't been able to watch or hear any games lately, because he's either too busy thinking he's being a dick to Renjun and failing his classes because he can't think of anything else. "So, how was the… Date with Little Huang? You never told me about it."

Jeno's face goes a little pale, and Yukhei wonders if he's taking his medicine right. "Uh, you never asked," is the reply. "It was really nice. He's really nice."

"Sweet. Like, will you… Go out with him again?"

Jeno scratches his chin. "Should I…?"

Not expecting that sort of reply, Yukhei laughs to himself, eyes focused on the fire crackling in the fireplace. "If you want to, go for it."

Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Jeno hums accordingly and they fall to silence once again, and he puts the essay aside to start working on another one of his weekly homework.

Yukhei feels like he's either bothering or boring him, so he excuses himself to go to his weekly check-up routine. The thing is, his heart is pumping inside his chest in a painful way, but he doesn't feel like Madam Pomfrey, as genius as she looks, has a cure for unrequited crush.

.

"Wow," Mark comments, dumbfounded. "I didn't even know you could… Do that. With your mouth. Do you know how to do that?"

Knowing he's just being annoying, Yukhei replies, miserable: "It's just kissing, Mark Lee. Didn't you do that a lot when you dated Nana?"

Mark sighs, "Don't make me want to throw up, thank you very much," and pushes him forward to the direction of the stairs leading to the dungeons, because apparently, he wants to go to Potions now. "Walk! Or do you want to keep on watching them suck face all day? Into voyeurism much?"

Somewhere behind them, Jungeun groans audibly. "Shut the fuck up, Mark."

Yukhei wonders if there's anything he can drink in Professor Kim's class to make him forget the image of Renjun and Jeno making out in the garden. When he asked Madam Pomfrey about a cure for self-induced heartbreak, she said that if there was one person to help him in the castle, it was Professor Kim. Although, when he goes to him after class and asks, the man smiles softly and replies that he can't give him anything.

What a bummer. Guess sometimes you have to deal with the consequences of your own actions.

.

Even if he's not one to hold grudges, Yukhei is never, ever going to trust Park Jisung again.

"Just so you know," he whispers to him in the next morning, when passing by the Ravenclaw table. "They're pretty much more than friends."

The look Jisung gives him is confused at first, then just pitiful. He doesn't even need to say anything. Yukhei sits in his own table for the first time in months, ignoring Jeno and Mark waving from across the room.

.

Yukhei doesn't spend the next days of his life totally miserable.

He's, like, mildly miserable, thank you very much.

See, he drags himself to class every day and not even once complains about it. Maybe to Mark, but only a little because he thinks Mark has too much on his lap already with all of the Jaemin thing going around – as in, the way they went from ignoring each other's existence to bickering religiously every day and leaving a path of destruction behind, both figuratively and literally speaking. He doesn't fail any of his lectures because his mothers – and Jinsoul, his captain – would kill him, because failing would mean no Quidditch and Quidditch is pretty much the only thing capable of distracting himself from the sulking, so he does just that: goes to class, goes to practice, does his homework, eat his meals properly and sleeps. Repeat.

Donghyuck is the first to point it out, one day at the Slytherin table when no one is around besides him and Jaemin: "You look like shit."

"Thank you,' he replies, snatching one of the waffles from Jaemin's plate. He doesn't seem to acknowledge it, too busy glaring at the Gryffindor table, but he does look at him when he adds: "Anything else about me you want to point out, Hyuckles?"

Donghyuck smiles: "Yes, actually, I'd like to point out your very obvious, yet undeniably adorable but pitiful crush on Jeno."

Both Yukhei and Jaemin make choked noises, but Jaemin does it out of spite while Yukhei truly chokes on his waffle. "I am sorry?" they both say.

"Come on, we've all been there," Donghyuck replies, simply.

Jaemin raises a hand. "I haven't, thank you very much."

Yukhei sends a blueberry on his face, and he promptly shuts up and goes back to the glaring. Then, asks the other boy:

"How did you find out about that, huh?"

Shrugging, Donghyuck starts taking the seeds off his watermelon. "You've been looking like shit ever since Renjun and Jeno started with that thing of theirs, which I think is really funny because--"

"Oh, no, he didn't!" Jaemin gets up, throwing his napkin on the table, face red. "Boys, I'll be right back. Xuxi, here's my advice: Gryffindors ain't shit!"

By the way he stressed out the last part, everyone knows he hasn't really been talking to Yukhei, but to himself. They watch as Jaemin storms out of the Dining Hall and then go back to the conversation like nothing happened, because that's just daily routine:

"Thing is, I know you're not in love with Renjun because if you were, I would have found out about that long ago." continues Donghyuck, this time quieter. "And also… Jisung told me--"

Yukhei drops his fork. "I think I never said something like this before, but I will kill him."

"-- because he wanted me to help you out! Sungie means well, I swear."

Pouting, Yukhei picks his fork up again, but only plays around with the remainings of stolen waffle on his plate. "Am I a huge dick for liking the same boy as Renjun? Even if I don't do anything about it? Like, just like him in the distance?"

With a puzzled look on his face, Donghyuck shakes his head. "It's physically impossible for you to be a dick. You should talk about it with Renjun, though. I think there's more of this story than you can even imagine."

Yukhei doesn't like that mysterious tone, but he also knows that Donghyuck is not one to spill anyone's secrets, less alone the ones from a friend and fellow Slytherin. So he nods and finishes breakfast.

.

Surprisingly, the one to acknowledge the elephant in the room is Renjun, and although Yukhei had prepared himself for whatever kind of talk they could have about the matter, nothing could have prepared him for this:

"You know I'm not dating Jeno, right?"

Yukhei drops his quill on the table, and the ink splashes onto the book he's picked from the library. He curses, and Renjun casts a cleaning spell with a shift from his wand.

"What," Yukhei replies, jokingly. "If you're not dating, are you two engaged?"

Renjun sits down in front of him, fingers intertwined on top of the table. "No."

"No?"

He shakes his head. Yukhei rubs a hand through his own face and says: "Can you stop lying to me? We've been through this. You don't need to hide things from your friends, Little Huang. If you're dating him, just say it to my face!"

"I am being one hundred percent honest right now," Renjun replies. He reaches over the table and takes Yukhei's hand in his, which is new because the last time Yukhei tried to pull something like this, he ended up with his robes on fire. "I'm not dating Jeno or anyone, and he isn't too, if that eases you. Donghyuck told me yesterday you asked him to accompany you for midnight ice cream in the kitchens and you only do that when you're heartbroken, and I'm telling you that I'm not dating Lee Jeno."

Yukhei frowns. Maybe Renjun is going nuts for real.

"But you kissed him," he reasons. "Like, you _kissed_ him,"

Renjun gives his hand a squeeze and leans back. "Yeah, I did, but that happened twice, only."

"Are you fucking with me? Little Huang!"

"No!" he shakes his head, laughing. "Xuxi, I only kissed him twice because the first time wasn't good and he was really upset about it. That's all."

Yukhei's chin drops. "So you were telling the truth about it?"

"Yes? It's not my fault you think everything Jeno does is perfect. Sometimes people don't kiss well."

"I highly doubt that. So, he didn't know-- how to kiss? And asked for a second chance?"

When Renjun shakes his head negatively, Yukhei wants to coo and die at the same time. He could do that. You know, teach him. He's an amazing kisser. He _could_ teach Jeno, if he had the chance, if he asked. And then he's thinking: _why are you thinking about this right now, dumbass?_ Noticing his inner turmoil, Renjun sighs:

"Jeno is cute but he's not my type, and I'm not his either. I appreciate the matchmaking adventure but, if you liked him first, you should've just told me that. Finders keepers, alright?"

Yukhei leans forward over the table so fast that he knocks his entire ink pot over, and the pitch black ink spreads over the table pretty much like all his feelings. "In my defense, I didn't know I liked him until I thought you did."

"Thank me later, then," replies Renjun, already taking out his wand again to clean the mess. When he's done, adds: "Now, stop sulking about it. If you really like him, go tell him. Maybe Gryffindors aren't as bad as I think they are, but I guess he's a better match for Hufflepuffs like you."

Yukhei feels like he could kiss Renjun right now. He doesn't because it'd earn him a hex or even a curse, and because he'd rather kiss someone else right now, you know?

Still, he kisses the tip of his fingers and leans over the table to press them to Renjun's cheek, and surprisingly, he lets him.

.

You must be familiar with the concept of easier said than done.

Yukhei is, from the bottom of his little gay heart, not.  

Growing up, he was that kind of kid that never backed off from anything – be it a promise, a fight, the idea of going to study in a whole different country with nothing but a suitcase, a wand and a pet lizard. Maybe that's why the Sorting Hat kept wondering whether to put him on Gryffindor or not, but once Yukhei had been told that the old hat takes your opinion into consideration – and, to be really honest, he didn't understand why he couldn't just be really brave in Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff is the nicest! So he sat there, waited for it and bring it on, world, he was ready to prove them all wrong.

But then again, maybe it's easier to be brave when you're not dealing with something so strange to you such as another person's feelings. As long as Yukhei wanted to push Lee Jeno to the nearest wall and kiss the living hell out of him-- it's easier said than done.

Instead, he asks him: "Are you going back home for Christmas?"

Jeno finishes tying his shoelaces and looks up, nose all scrunched up. "I don't think so, I never do. Think I'll just stay here?"

He nods, holding out a hand to pull him to his feet. Jeno takes it. His hand is warm and soft, and Yukhei wants to keep holding it but has to pull away. They resume the walk.

"So, I was thinking..."

Jeno nudges his ribs playfully with an elbow, giggling. "Oh, you do that?"

"You know, that's so mean, I'm not even going to say it now!"

It only makes Jeno laugh more – and perhaps that's not even a bad thing –, but Yukhei's bottom lip still juts out. Then, Jeno pats him on the back and says: "I'm kidding, man,"

"Ok, so, here's the deal: would you like to go spend Christmas with me?"

The moment that the words leave his mouth, Yukhei regrets it. There's no way this can actually be a good idea. When one of his mothers sent him a letter, nearly a week before, talking about how neither of them would be able to spend Christmas at home this year because of the Asian Quidditch League, he thought that maybe he could just go back home and spend Christmas with his dog. He's sure Aradia would enjoy his company. But when Jeno is added to the equation, what is he going to do! No way he can walk around in his boxers and watch stupid wizard rom-com, drinking milk from the gallon. No way he can actually act like a normal human being when Jeno's there. Stupid idea.

Yukhei looks over to the frozen lake and wonders if it is too much of a painful death to dive there and never come back. Renjun is going to be utterly pissed off if he dies.

"Like, it's pretty much just going to be me and my dog there," he continues, in a tiny voice. "And there's this tiny muggle village nearby and we could go there and you can show me all the muggle stuff and-- I'm rambling, sorry. Forget I even said that."

"I would love to."

Yukhei frowns, turning to him. "What?"

"I'd love to spend Christmas with you, Yukhei," Jeno repeats.

He wasn't expecting that. He thought that maybe Jeno would reject the offer and then they could go back to the morning jog like nothing happened, but now that he's accept it, Yukhei doesn't know what to do. Lee Jeno is spending Christmas with him!

“Awesome sauce!” he lets out, and Jeno, taken by surprise, slips a little on the ice on the ground. Yukhei catches him before he falls and says: “We can talk about details later. Round two?”

Jeno smiles. “Sure.”

.

"Christmas!" Donghyuck exclaims, pointing a spoon at his chest. "We've been friends for ages but you never asked _me_ to go home with you for Christmas!"

Renjun snorts, sitting on top of one of the tables in the kitchen, where Yukhei is sitting too. "Why would he," he says. "Spending the year at Hogwarts with you is already insufferable."

Before Donghyuck can say anything – maybe tease Renjun for that one time _he_ asked Donghyuck to go back home for Christmas with him, but Donghyuck has a gigantic family that misses him very much when he's not in Korea and he doesn't have the heart to tell them "no" –, Yukhei raises his hands and says: "One day, you all can go spend Christmas with me. I'm sure my moms will love it."

Donghyuck takes a spoonful of ice cream to his mouth, swallows and says: "I will remember that, don't worry. Anyway, are you finally going to kiss him or not?"

"I don't even know if he likes me!" Yukhei replies, turning to Renjun. "Little Huang won't even tell me if he does, he prefers seeing me suffer with the doubt."

Renjun shrugs. "Maybe he does like you, maybe he does not," he sing-songs. "I think you'll have to ask him."

Donghyuck cackles loudly at Yukhei's whines. Perhaps hanging out with Slytherin grants you moments like this – them, laughing at your misery, and you, miserable.

"Anyway," Yukhei continues, looking down at his hands. There's a purple bruise on the tip of his thumb from one particularly messy hit on a Bludger, it's starting to become green. He pokes on it experimentally but Renjun bats his hand away. "I feel like I really like him, guys."

Renjun snorts. "I can't believe it took you one bad matchmaking to realize that. This is the most fun I've had in years, and I mean it."

"Oh, I'm glad my suffering brought you some stress relief!"

Donghyuck almost falls on the floor from laughter, and Yukhei shakes his head in disbelief, but Renjun leans on his side and puts an arm around his shoulder. "You know you're my best friend, right?"

Yukhei smiles proudly. "I know."

"Hey, I'm right here!"

Renjun rolls his eyes, leaning back. "Unfortunately."

Yukhei dodges it on the last second when Donghyuck sends the spoon flying in their direction. Then he storms out of the kitchen in fear after realizing the chocolate stain on Renjun's shirt and the wand on his hand.

.

Exactly two days before they can leave for Christmas, hell breaks loose on the other half of Yukhei's circle of friends.

"I'm so sorry for this," he tells Jeno, wand pointed to his chest. " _Rictusempra!_ "

Somewhere along his fourth year of Hogwarts, Donghyuck (third year) told him that the best way to charm a wizard is to duel him. Yukhei had many doubts about it, because he thought that asking someone out to grab a butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks was a nicer idea of a date. But then again, hanging out with Slytherins all the time grants you a little bit of their wicked thinking, and that's why, when Jaemin announced over breakfast that he challenged Mark Lee to a duel, he knew he should be the one to accompany him.

Because he wouldn't forgive any of his friends for hurting Lee Jeno – that's why he stuck with the silly dueling spells who wouldn't really hurt a fly –, and because he couldn't let Jaemin be expelled for killing Mark. Not that he could actually do it, but Yukhei's learned not to turn his back to Jaemin in the worst way, pretty much like everyone else. You do not mess with Na Jaemin. Ever.

"Get off my face," Jaemin hisses, pushing him to the side. Yukhei doesn't even need to be told twice, he steps out of the way calmly so that Jaemin can dodge one of Mark's offensive spells.

Honestly, this idea of flirting is borderline barbaric. He waits until Jeno stops laughing on the floor and pulls him to his feet. "Truce?"

Jeno, although, takes two steps back and points his wand to Yukhei's chest. " _Locomotor mortis,"_

Nice. That's nice. Yukhei doesn't care if he has to watch the duel on this position on the floor, with his legs glued to each other and Jeno casually sitting by his side. He rests his head on Jeno's thigh and keeps it there when the other doesn't move away, and they watch as Jaemin tries to stupefy Mark for the third time in a row only to be met with a jelly-legs jinx that has him wobbling his way around the patio in a very funny way. Yukhei wishes he had a camera.

Even though Jaemin has the guts to do anything, including learning all of the most ominous spells known to wizards just for the sake of it, Mark is an excellent dueler. Not that Yukhei is any surprised by it, because they've been studying together for years, but it's still quite a sight to watch. "Expulso!" he exclaims, with a nod of his wands, sending Jaemin to the other side of the patio. He falls to the floor with a thud.

"You're ridiculous, did you know that?" Jaemin replies from there. "Confringo!"

Wow, that's a big one. Jeno tenses up, and Yukhei's legs are free now so he sits up properly and leans back on his hands. If he didn't know Mark could dodge it, and that Jaemin would never intentionally hurt him, he'd be preoccupied. Confringo can be deadly sometimes, but Mark dodges it like Jaemin had just cast a kid hex on him.

"When do you think it's time we stop them?" Jeno asks him, leaning on his side.

"We don't," Yukhei replies. "One of them either gives in or dies. Dueling rules."

Jeno nods, but he's not exactly telling the truth. By the rules, _they_ should be duelling too, but everybody knows that Jaemin only asked for a second because he wants public, he wants everybody talking about him dueling Mark Lee on the next few days. And Yukhei forgot to buy him a Christmas gift, so he gives that satisfaction to Jaemin instead and hopes he likes the gift.

He realizes he hasn't been paying attention to the duel when a bright yellow light flickers on Jeno's eyes. Yukhei turns his head so fast that he almost gets whiplash.

"Where did you learn that spell, huh?" Jaemin asks. He stubbornly wipes the blood running from his nose – ah, bloody nose hex, that's famous –, but it soaks his white shirt either way. "With the second years, Mark? It suits you, big baby."

"If you keep talking shit, you'll drown," Mark replies, but it ends up sounding more like a worried remark than a snarky one. Yukhei chuckles. "Scour--"

Jaemin dodges it. "Scourgify? Wanna clean my mouth, Mark Lee? Petrificus totalus!"

And then, it's done. When Mark falls to the floor, Jeno looks torn between staying here or getting up to help him, but Jaemin marches his way furiously, so he just turns to Yukhei and asks: "Wanna get out of here and play wizard chess?"

"Thought you'd never ask."

.

Two days later, when Yukhei finds Jeno struggling with a bright red duffel bag and his broomstick, he thinks that maybe he likes to be in love.

Because, let's face it, he pretty much likes this mess of a boy who constantly forgets he's a wizard – casting a spell to levitate bags is what has been saving Yukhei for years –, and that says goodbye to every person at Hogwarts before they leave to get the train. He keeps talking about Christmas in the muggle world and how it's basically the same except once the food is over, you can't get more with magic, and Yukhei starts noticing that all of his memories have to do with childhood memories – "The toys are inanimate objects, I've never had a plastic broomstick when I was a kid, you know?" –, which makes him sad. He hopes Jeno is making good adolescence memories at Hogwarts.

Speaking of that, he knows Jeno's been spending Christmas at the castle ever since his first year, playing wizard chess with the ghosts and sending mail to his friends with what's happening in the school while they're gone. Even if Hogwarts has many, many secrets for you to discover while studying there, it does seem quite lonely. So he's decided to make Jeno have the _nicest_ Christmas ever, even if it means embarrassing himself by trying to make pumpkin pie when he doesn't know how to cook!

"When we get to the station, we'll have to Apparate," Yukhei says, when they're sitting in the train, an entire booth just for them because most students had taken the train a day before. Things got delayed when they had to explain to the headmistress why they let Jaemin and Mark duel when dueling was strictly prohibited on school grounds. When Yukhei replied that it was just flirting, it was a miracle that all four of them weren't expelled after Mark, in a moment of distress, tried to give him a headlock in front of Minerva McGonagall herself. "Have you Apparated before?"

Jeno shakes his head negatively. "I heard it's quite terrible."

"It's not that bad, really," he waves it off, chuckling. "You'll have lessons later in the year. I remember that Mark splinched and left his ear behind and--"

Jeno's eyes widen.

"And that's totally not going to happen to you because I'm great at Apparition, and I'll take you with me!"

He doesn't look quite convinced, but forgets all about it when the Trolley witch passes by – and that's when Yukhei learns that Jeno loves cauldron cakes and peppermint toads, but that he also buys chocolate frogs to help Mark out with his collections. As for Yukhei, he settles with fudge flies and sugared butterfly wings.

"Is it really butterfly wings?" Jeno asks, at some point, after they recalled all the bullshit Jaemin had made everyone go through in the first part of the school year, and all the late homework they had yet to do. "Like, real butterfly wings?"

Yukhei shrugs, taking a look at the package. "It must have been, one day," he replies. "This looks vegan, actually."

"How can it be, it has chocolate!"

Yukhei laughs: "I said it _looks_ vegan, but it surely doesn't taste like it."

Shaking his head, Jeno throws a peppermint toad at him. "You're impossible," but Yukhei doesn't care, he fishes the peppermint toad from where it's fallen on one of the creases in his hoodie and eats it.

.

Yukhei's childhood home is a two-story house the color of the sky and hidden by ancient, magical trees.

His family actually went through a crisis three years before because one of his mothers wanted the house to be green, the other wanted it to be yellow and Yukhei wanted it to be baby pink, so they settled for blue because that way no one would be too happy. Besides that, it's a pretty simples house, with room just enough for the three of them and the dog. There are gnomes in the garden and a cabinet for the broomsticks that needs to be cleaned, and there's a hidden trail that leads to a meadow where Yukhei started to practice Quidditch when the garden became too small for him. There's also a crack on a wall from the time in which he crashed full force against it on the first time he rode his mother's Firebolt, and they refused to fix it so that he'd remember it forever. He needs to show that to Jeno.

And the thing is, Yukhei absolutely adores his home. So when they Apparate in the road, half a mile from his house, he nearly carries Jeno there out of excitement. Well, that and because Jeno threw up on the side of the road – too many cauldron cakes, Apparating for the first time and all –, so he took pity on the boy.

"We're getting there, buddy," he tells him, taking a quick look back to see if stuff is still following them.

"You don't need to carry me, I'm perfectly fine," is what Jeno replies, cheekbones as red as the apples that grow in his garden, with his arm around Yukhei's neck.

He chuckles. "Right, and I'm going to let you faint when you take two steps. Oh, here we are!"

With a quick nods of his wand, Yukhei sends the bags and the brooms upstairs, and walks the rest of the way until the front porch by Jeno's side.

"Hey," Jeno says. "You can let go of me now, I'm good,"

Yukhei lets go of his waist without thinking twice.

.

"Aren't you going to write to your parents?"

Jeno looks up from his bowl of Pixie Puffs with a puzzled expression. Yukhei realizes that maybe he shouldn't have asked about it and tries to think of something different to say, but Jeno shrugs and replies: "They don't like owls. If I send a real letter, it's going to arrive there in March or something."

"Sorry," Yukhei whispers, putting his quill down on the table. "I shouldn't have asked."

This time, Jeno shakes his head with a smile. "It's alright. Are your parents doing well?"

He points with his chin to the letter resting on the table. It arrived right after them, with the family owl shocking full force against the kitchen window because Yukhei forgot to open it – he was busy staring as Jeno struggled with the enchanted cabinets, because you're not supposed to _take_ things, you _ask_ for them. In the letter, both of his mothers send their regards and wish that they have a wonderful Christmas, with a promise that another letter (and gifts) will arrive in the following week.

Yukhei nods happily: "They are. Apparently, Crawler Kappas killed it last week and the Thai Thunderbirds weren't really happy about it, they're out for blood now."

"Crawler Kappas?! No way. They're called "crawlers" for a reason, they're just so slow!"

Yukhei shrugs. Something nudges him on the leg and he reaches under the table to scratch the back of Aradia's ear, just like she likes it. His dog is very old but also very friendly, so she goes rest her head on Jeno's thigh next. She's liked him since he gave her a good belly rub after lunch. "I know, right? They have new brooms, I guess." Yukhei replies, finally. "Hey, speaking of that, wanna go flying later?"

When Jeno laughs, it's like he just hit jackpot. "Is that even a question?"

.

There isn't much fun in playing Quidditch as a duo, but Yukhei takes his mother's old Quaffle out of the broomstick cabinet and throws over his shoulder at Jeno before they leave to the meadow.

As expected, he catches it, and all the way to the hidden practice field he throws it up and down in the air while talking to Yukhei. He's noticed that Jeno's hands never stop working – he's either fidgeting or playing with the hem of his shirt or picking on his nails without noticing. It's undeniably cute and almost painful to look, so Yukhei busies himself with talking.

"This is where I learned how to play Quidditch," he starts, as soon as they reach the meadow. The sun will go down in a couple hours but it still hangs brightly in the sky, illuminating the green grass and the pretty flowers just like he remembers it from his childhood. "We don't have to worry about muggles finding or seeing us because there are protection spells. Either way, I wouldn't fly too high because the grass might be fluffy but it's one hell of a fall."

Jeno sets the tail of his broomstick on the ground, mouth agape as he looks around. "It's so pretty, I wish I had something like this growing up. Incheon is like… Just a big city."

"Well, it's alright because you can come play with me whenever you want!"

He laughs. "Right, I'll remember that. Now, let's fly."

When it becomes too dark to fly and after Yukhei taught Jeno how to do a Porskoff Ploy flawlessly – he did end up sending the Quaffle to Yukhei's head once, which got him laughing and Jeno's face becoming beetroot purple from embarrassment –, they lay on the grass for a while, too tired to move. Yukhei's sweatshirt is sticking uncomfortably to his skin beside the cool weather and he desperately needs to take a shower, but Jeno is pointing out at the stars slowly appearing in the sky and he can't lose that.

"My mother used to say that pointing out at stars gives you warts," he says.

Yukhei frowns. "Why are you doing it, then?"

"Because I can remove it with magic if I ever have one," Jeno replies, simply. "If I'm here with you, no one is going to tell me I can't use magic, you know?"

Yukhei wants to laugh at the comment, but the last part prevents him from it. He rolls on his side and looks at him: "You know that if things are bad at home, you can ask McGonagall to to let you stay the summer at the castle, right?"

Jeno shakes his head, still looking at the sky. "It's good. It's not like they're total assholes to me. They just don't… Like this part of me. I'm used to it."

"Well, I can't imagine not liking _all_ of you, so I think it sucks."

The words leave his mouth effortlessly, and he only realizes he's said it when Jeno turns to him. The faint light coming from his wand – he cast Lumos and stuck it on the grass, which was a great idea, Yukhei never thought about doing something like this before –, allows his reddening cheeks to be noticeable. Yukhei wants to launch himself into fucking outer space.

"You like all of me?" he asks, quietly.

Yukhei knows he could play it cool and make a joke out of it, pretty much like he's done all his life when confronted about his feelings, but instead he rests the side of his head on the grass and says: "Of course I do."

Jeno looks like he's trying to fight back a smile, by the way the corners of his mouth perk up, but he eventually gives in and just turns to his original position. "I like all of you, too."

Wanting to bury himself on the ground, Yukhei rolls on his back again and lets out a big sigh, which is accompanied by a giggle from the other boy.

See, Yukhei might have been born for flying, but right now, he's sure he was born for falling.

.

Later that night, after a shower, Yukhei sits on the floor of the living room and uses the coffee table as support for the letter he furiously writes to Renjun:

_little huang,_

_you're such a mean, mean boy!! you could've told me he liked me!! now i'm here dying to kiss him but he's taking a shower and if i don't kiss him i will die!! huang renjun, the next time donghyuck tries to kill you with a spoon, i will let him!!_

_hope you have a wonderful christmas, though, because i love you._

_wholeheartedly,_

_big huang._

_._

He's conjuring food from a restaurant nearby – he has to sit really still and mentalize it for some time, otherwise, the food ends up tasting just like sand, not that he'd know exactly how sand tastes like… Obviously – so that they'll have real food to eat for dinner when Yukhei is caught by surprise. His eyes open just in time to see Jeno leaning back, with a smug little grin on his face, on the counter in front of him, where the food was suppose to appear if Yukhei had succeeded.

"I'm sorry," he says, the conjuring completely forgotten. "Can you do that again?"

This time, though, Jeno doesn't lean in to kiss him. He pulls at the front of Yukhei's hoodie instead and brings him closer – of course, Yukhei complies, what the hell –, and presses a peck to his lips, pretty much like he did before but with more confidence.

Yukhei is about to say something stupid (he always feels it in his chest, when he's about to fuck up), but Jeno kisses him again and then everything else is just white noise. He cups Yukhei's face with both hands and kisses him silly.

It's a little bit messy, either because Yukhei is too eager – he's been waiting! - or because Jeno doesn't look that experienced with it, but Yukhei can't help himself when he smiles and opens his eyes just in time to see Jeno trying to fight back a smile himself. Cutie. Absolute cutie.

"I hope this wasn't terrible," he says, and Yukhei scoffs. "No, really. I-- I did this, like, twice in my life."

"Oh, I know," Yukhei replies, and that earns him a light punch on the arm. "Don't worry, though. You have aaaaaall Christmas break to practice, if you wanna."

Jeno laughs. "I think that'd be… Sweet."

.

_Dear Xuxi,_

_Thank me later!_

_With the best regards,_

_Huang Renjun._

_P.S.: tell Jeno I wish him a Merry Christmas. You, too, I guess._

_P.P.S: have you heard? Mark and Jaemin are M.I.A. since the duel. I'm betting 40 galleons that they're together – both physically and relationship-wise – for Christmas break, but Donghyuck doubled the offer and said they're not, but that they'll be dating again as soon as we go back to school. Doyoung is skeptical, he thinks they're done for good. I didn't let Ten enter the bet because he has too much money to spend and we don't, though. So place your bets in the next letter. Tell Jeno to enter, too._

_P.P.P.S: you'll have your gifts when we go back to the castle, I ended up forgetting them there. I'm sorry._

_._

_My rising Sun,_

_We were really happy with the letter you sent. We miss you so much, my dear. Things haven't changed much since the last time we talked, except for the fact that I'm going up on the League after the thai team was sent home. Your mama decided to keep traveling with me, although, because she got shy after knowing you brought a (special? I see) friend home. If we don't win the next game, we'll go back home by New Year's eve, though. I'll let you know, of course. Therefore, enjoy these days with your friend and, for the love of Morgana, eat proper food, will you? I know you're a fan of that McDonald's atrocity because you didn't know muggle food could be so good but it is not real food, Yukhei._

_Merry Christmas, dear. We hope you have a great one._

_With love,_

_Mom. and mama!! love you kiddo x x_

_P.S.: hope you and your friend enjoy the gifts._

_._

_Cas,_

_Merry Christmas! I hope this arrives in time because this owl doesn't seem that reliable, but there are not many options here where I am. I hope it didn't lose the gift in the way to your house._

_Hope you and Jenjen are having a great time. I'm really glad that you guys are friends. Or more than that. I don't know because no one tells me anything. When I asked Jaemin, he looked like he was going to throw up on my shoes. Either way, you better take care of my best friend, and please don't scare him off with the dick jokes or whatever. And don't let him bore you out of your skull. I'd like you both intact when classes start again._

_Have a good end of the year. I love you guys very much._

_Yours sincerely,_

_ML. xoxo_

_._

_Xuxi,_

_Your cabinet threw a bowl on my head and I got really upset about it, but I fixed it already. Didn't want to wake you, but I went to buy some things. I'm actually sending this from a coffee shop because I forgot to leave a note before I left. If you want, meet me at the cute bookshop at the corner of the grocery store?_

_Jeno :-)_

_._

"I lived here all my life and I didn't know what a grocery store was," Yukhei whispers in between the bookshelves. "I had to ask. I feel so humiliated."

"Merry Christmas to you, too," replies Jeno, and Yukhei is not really seeing him. He just watches the mop of white hair go from one way to the other behind the books, and thinks that there's no way Jeno's hair is not enchanted. It's always so clean, and soft – he knows from experience now! –, and is always neatly cut. Yukhei cuts his own hair, maybe that's why it's a mess.

He pulls two books from a shelf and this time, Jeno smiles at him through the hole. "Merry Christmas, Jeno," he says, softly. "Your thoughts on the muggle village?"

Jeno moves to his left, and Yukhei follows him by picking the books from the shelf one after the other. "I think it's lovely," he replies. "I have this feeling that the owner of the flower shop over there is a witch, though. She had too much Wolfsbane for someone who doesn't know you use it to ease a werewolf's transformation with it."

Yukhei has no idea what he's talking about, he's terrible at potions ever since Johnny graduated and took his old Potions book with him. He used to borrow it, because it was full of useful notes and all. "Sweet. And what are you doing right now? These books are so boring, they don't tell you secrets after the story ends."

Jeno laughs, pulling a book right above Yukhei's forehead. He takes a look at the title and puts it back. "I'm getting a book for Renjun. I didn't have time to buy a gift for him."

Yukhei nods. "Did you get a gift for me?"

"I did, actually. It's on my bag at your house."

He sighs. "Nice, because I bought one for you but didn't wanna look like a loser."

"Why would you look like a loser?"

Jeno's face disappears behind a row of colorful books. Yukhei takes them out one by one and replies: "Don't know! You make me a little nervous."

This time, Jeno purposely pushes some books back on the shelf and Yukhei has to run after him again. "Why would you say something like that?" he asks, when Yukhei finds him again.

"Well, I did fall out of my broom when I first met you, didn't I?"

They reach the end of the shelf. Yukhei keeps waiting on his side and then Jeno appears on the corner, some copies of most-probably-boring-books securely pressed against his chest. The tips of his ears are red. "I am still deeply sorry about that."

Since Yukhei is feeling bold, he leans it quickly and lands a kiss square on his mouth. Well, maybe not exactly because he misjudged the distance and it lands a little on the corner of Jeno's mouth.

"Don't be," he says, leaning back. "Buy me a book and I'll buy you one."

Jeno shakes his head, chuckling. "You don't have muggle money."

"Shit, you're right. I'll give you one of my awesome wizard books, then!"

He keeps a close watch when Jeno pays for the books because muggle money _is_ so weird, he can't believe they walk around with paper. What if it gets wet? And then he carries Jeno's books on the way home because why not. He had once heard Donghyuck say that things like that were lame, and he desperately wanted to do it with someone since then.

.

Yukhei stands on his room looking down at his open trunk, pondering if he should take the absurdly big stash of posh candy that Mark got him as a Christmas gif to Hogwarts or if he should just eat all of it before going back to school. Too much sugar, he thinks, but it's a pretty good idea because he knows Donghyuck _will_ steal from it before he even has a chance to taste one. He leaves the bag on his bag and proceeds to make his belongings fly back to the trunk.

"I don't wanna go back," complains Jeno, lying on his back on the beanbag at the corner of the room. He's been reading the book Yukhei gave him – it's kid stories, actually, but Yukhei's always loved it – all day, enchanting the pages to turn without him having to do it. "I ignored all of my Transfiguration homework and McGonagall will kill me."

"She won't, though. Been there, done that," Yukhei replies. He picks up the snowglobe of a Quidditch field – with tiny, flying players and all! – that Jeno gave him (cute) from his bedside table and tucks it inside a sock, so that it won't break during the trip. "Are you liking the book?"

"Yup! I also like all the doodles you made on the pages. Very artistic, even though I can't understand some of the words because of it."

Yukhei forgot about that. He was, like, five. His mother wanted to kill him for it.

He coughs: "Consider it as the element of surprise!"

At some point, when he's more than halfway done with fitting everything back on the trunk, Jeno gets up from his spot to knock hips against him. "Please, don't forget to write your moms and thank them for the shirts. I loved mine, like, what the hell."

Yukhei smiles proudly. "You look like a Slytherin with those colors. Jaemin is going to have a stroke."

"I know," Jeno looks down at the Holyhead Harpies shirt he's wearing. It's signed and all. He cried. "And you look like a watered down Gryffindor. I didn't even know the Chudley Cannons still ex--"

"Now, you're being so mean, Lee Jeno! They're my favorite team and you know it, I won't accept this kind of behavior inside my house--"

He's still complaining by the time they go to bed – because how dare him! –, but Yukhei starts to forget about it when rolls on his side to watch Jeno fall asleep. He reaches out with a hand to brush the hair off his face, and Jeno's nose scrunches at that.

He's honestly so cute. Yukhei is going to love dating him.

.

.

.

.

“Have you heard?" Jeno asks him as he plops down on Yukhei's unmade bed in the Hufflepuff dorm.

He looks up from his Defence Against the Dark Arts essay – he's been at it for two hours now, might as well just give up –, frowning: "About what?"

Jeno waves his wand right above his head, making the curtains of Yukhei's bed become waterfalls that aren't really wet, but enough for him to try and put his essay under one of them, in hopes that it'll get ruined. It doesn't work, unfortunately, Yukhei will have to turn it in. "Mark and Jaemin have been seeing each other again since Halloween, but they only made it official after the duel. Precisely right before Christmas, when they ran into each other in their posh wizard camping resort or something."

Yukhei's inkpot is knocked over the parchment when he turns to look at him. Maybe on purpose. "We won the bet, Jen! The both of us!"

"I know," Jeno smiles cheekily. "Let's buy tickets for the Quidditch World Cup next week with the money. It's not much but I think we can get the cheapest seats and actually see something."

Yukhei can imagine a lightbulb lighting up right above his head – he's suddenly remembered of the other part of his mothers' Christmas gifts. He turns around on his chair at the desk and scratches his chin: "So, about that…"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't forget to leave kudos and let me know what you thought!
> 
> if you're here, thank you so much for reading. i really liked writing this story, so i hope you liked reading it as well.
> 
> i didn't have a chance to say it, but xuxi gave jeno a cat miniature. as in, a cat miniature that is pretty much like a cat but fits in the palm of his hand and doesn't give him allergies, so he can keep it in his pocket. 
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/morktwt)   
>  [ccat](https://curiouscat.me/nctqueer)


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